Heart of
Steel: Interviews

Faster
Pussycat - Nine Lives

Interviewed by Keith McDonald

Faster Pussycat came on in the heat of the Glam era with their
self-titled debut in 1987. With the help of MTV and commercial radio,
Faster Pussycat belted out hit after hit to eagerly awaiting fans that
included "House of Pain", "Bathroom Wall" and
"Babylon". Having sold a ton of records worldwide the band
found themselves in the middle of the 'grunge' backlash.

The band reunited in 2001 and have been touring ever since. They
landed the coveted spot on the Poison "Hollyweird" summer tour
playing to packed houses. I recently had the opportunity to speak with
Brent Muscat who filled me in on what's been going on. You can check out
their website at www.fasterpussycat.com.

How's the tour going?

It's going really great. We get to play a lot of shows on our off
nights on our own. This summer tour is probably the most hectic schedule
I've ever done. A lot of fans are getting to see us. We had Pretty Boy
Floyd out with us.

How long is the set list on the Poison tour?

We only get a half-hour but that's changing in about a week. Winger
is not going to be on the (bill) anymore. We'll get about 45 minutes.

How did you land the Poison tour?

We've been friends with Poison for a long time, back in '86, '87. We
used to open for them back in Hollywood and they're real good friends of
ours. They just wanted us out with this tour and their album Hollyweird.

How do you think this high exposure tour with Poison will help
Faster Pussycat?

Well I think at least people will be exposed to us. Maybe we'll make
some younger fans. It will bring the profile of the band up so if we
wanna do another record it might help out. I'm sure our old records, our
catalog, is selling.

Do you think you'll be able to reach younger fans who may not have
heard of the band?

I think we're trying to reach them and playing our old songs to our
older fans. If people expect us to come out wearing bandanas like we did
in '87 they're going to be sadly mistaken. We're going to evolve and try
other stuff.

Tell me about this new 'darker look' that the band is using. Who's
idea was it and how did it come about. I see the band is wearing Nazi
styled clothing.

Because we play with Poison and come on at 6:00 during the day and we
have no pyro, the only way we can make people go home and say 'wow' is
by what we have on. We want something that people will react to. We're
not trying to preach anything or are racists. We want to freak (the
fans) out.

I see Taime has a Marilyn Manson look. Was that the idea?

The thing is if you look at pictures of Taime in '86 he had black
hair, makeup, was wearing dresses and had a skirt on. At that time
Marilyn Manson was Brian Warner and was in high school listening to
Faster Pussycat. What came first, the chicken or the egg? I say Taime
came first. He's been doing it since '85. He was way Goth before Faster
Pussycat got together. Taime likes Marilyn Manson.

How did the band get back together in the first place?

Taime did a remix record. A booking agency came to us and said a lot
of people wanna see us, a lot of requests from club owners. We thought
'why not', we could get some good money and weren't doing anything this
summer. It was just the right timing.

Do you find touring to be a much harder experience than you did in
the late 80's and early 90's like so many other bands have?

We did it on our own last year, it was fine. With the Poison tour we
have food backstage, showers and stuff and it's great. On out off nights
we play clubs. It's hard these days because rock is not all the way back
like people think it is.

When can fans expect some new material? Are you planning on
releasing a new studio album anytime soon?

Yes. Even in the Poison set we play new songs. Hopefully this winter
we'll make new material, I hope we do it. I don't know how many it will
sell and I don't care. It would be fun to do it. If we are to tour
again, which I don't know, we definitely want a record made. It will be
rock, close to the second album, real heavy, the darker side to Faster
Pussycat.

The (music) industry doesn't really care what the fans want. They're
all about marketing to the 16-21 year olds and making as much money as
they can. Big companies have come together; they don't develop artists
like they did before. You're just a product.

How are Eric and Mark doing? Do you speak to them?

Mark and Eric shipped heroin back on the second album, FedEx to
Omaha, NE. Mark got busted, but we covered for Eric saying he was clean.
We were up for the Motley Crue tour and (they) were fully sober. We had
to say we're not doing drugs. You think Eric would have learned his
lesson but he went on to do it again. Eric was kicked out on the third
record. Mark was never really kicked out but we said we're going to do
this tour (without him). Eric is still getting kicked out of every band.
I really like him

What's the future for Faster Pussycat?

Hopefully we'll do a new record. We have a live record that we may
release with four or five new songs. If we can't do that maybe we'll
call it a day. We'll see what happens. We'll always have our website and
release old demos and cool stuff, updates. Definitely try to do a new
record with Taime. Hopefully this tour gives us a high profile.